Nomi Network

The Swedish Model to Combating Sex Trafficking

Some say prostitution is the oldest
profession still practiced and see no need for change. Others say prostitution
is something society really needs to react to - by making it illegal to sell
sex. When speaking of this issue, focus often lies on the selling part –the
prostitute – rather than the one buying sex. Why is it so? Why are we not more
interested in what drives a human being into buying another human being? Is
this a behavior we should simply accept? Or is it may be time to ask ourselves
if a time to change our focus has come.

In 1999, Sweden passed a new law; the prohibition of the purchase of sexual
services, criminalizing the buyer and not the seller of sexual services.
The law was the first of its kind and stirred up a lot of emotions and debate.
The Swedish society has for a long time been viewed upon as striving for
equality in every aspect. Gender equality is no exception, and the law itself
was motivated by this ideology. We must ask ourselves: In a modern, equal
society, where does a business which profits from putting foremost women in a
weak and exposed situation fit in? It doesn’t matter how old the profession
might be. We try to abolish slavery once and for all, why not abolish all kinds
of exploitation of people? Many claim that making the purchase
of sex illegal puts the prostitutes in a more dangerous situation, since only
the worst kind of sex buyers will remain. These people often have a criminal history
and have - as often put - not much to lose. Therefore, it is vital the police
forces get the support and funding they need to keep the women still out there
safe. Even more important is the
help provided for the women to break free of prostitution. To take it one step
further, the most important issue is to change the habits and attitudes of
society. It should never be acceptable to buy another person.

An opposite way of dealing with
prostitution is of course to make it completely legal. In the Netherlands, for
example, brothels are legal and the Red Light district of Amsterdam is world
famous for its commerce. Police inspections are supposed to keep everything in
check and health care is also supposed to be provided. A union for the
prostitutes also exists. It is hard to tell if this way of handling this
business is better, but where prostitution is legal, trafficking of humans
tends to escalate. Many of the girls seen in these brothels are not Dutch, but
from Eastern Europe and other poorer parts of the world.

After the passing of the law, street
prostitution in Sweden was reduced by 50 percent. A comparison study conducted
in 2008 showed that Sweden even had a three times lower street prostitution
rate than its two closest neighbors, Norway and Denmark. This sounds very good,
but raises a lot of suspicion about how many unreported brothel-businesses or
cases gone underground there are. However, during the first 10 years of the
law, there was nothing supporting the idea of an increased indoor prostitution
in Sweden. Sweden is also made a less interesting market for traffickers. Raids conducted by the Swedish police often involve
two to four victims, whereas in several countries across Europe such raids
often involves up to 60 victims. The law is therefore
viewed as a success.

Several surveys conducted in Sweden
show that the public supports the ban of prostitution and also that the number
of sex buyers has decreased, which hopefully indicates a change in attitude.
Social workers also claim that buyers are more cautious than before.

Circulating back to the issue of
gender equality, is the next step to ban both the buying and selling of sex?
That is for the future do decide, but I would like to end this article with a
quote from Stella Marr, a former sex worker: “Pimps don’t stop being pimps when you legalize what they do”.